This invention relates to materials having diamond-like properties and methods and means for manufacturing them, and particularly to materials which combine the tetrahedral structure of diamonds with other carbon structures.
Diamond is the hardest naturally occurring substance, is chemically almost inert, exhibits dielectric characteristics at room temperature, and furnishes a heat conductivity greater than that of copper. Diamond constitutes a dense array of carbon atoms joining other carbon atoms arranged tetrahedrally around a central atom. This contrasts with other carbon compounds such as a graphite which is composed of hexagonal layers of carbon atoms such as chicken wires which can slide over each other.
Because diamond is comparatively rare and offers the potential of a multitude of industrial uses, a number of attempts have been made to manufacture diamonds synthetically or to combine the tetrahedral carbon structure of diamonds with other carbon compounds. However, the resulting manufacturing schemes and materials have been comparatively expensive and limited the use of diamond-like materials for industrial purposes.
Some attempts to manufacture such materials have been unsuccessful because of the difficulty of synthesizing the diamond structure upon other carbon compounds.